Kennedy Jr backtracks and says US measles outbreak is now a ‘top priority’ for health department

Health secretary earlier said outbreak was ‘not unusual’ but with first US measles death in decade steps up response

Two days after initially downplaying the outbreak as “not unusual,” the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, on Friday said he recognizes the serious impact of the ongoing measles epidemic in Texas – in which a child died recently – and said the government is providing resources, including protective vaccines.

“Ending the measles outbreak is a top priority for me and my extraordinary team,” Kennedy – an avowed anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist who for years has sown doubts about the safety and efficacy of vaccines – said in a post on X.

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Continue ReadingKennedy Jr backtracks and says US measles outbreak is now a ‘top priority’ for health department

Preston’s Milutin Osmajic riles Burnley with Cup goal taunts after racism claim

“Preston advance to the FA Cup quarter-finals,” proclaimed the PA announcer at Deepdale. It is a sentence no Preston fan has heard since 1966 but a reality after Paul Heckingbottom’s team produced a dominant display to shred Burnley.

Milutin Osmajic, almost inevitably, was central to Preston’s passage into the last eight. Robbie Brady, with a superb free-kick, Osmajic, with a clinical strike, and a predatory finish from Will Keane gave the hosts victory in the meeting of two founder members of the Football League. Burnley’s previously mean and lauded defence was nowhere to be seen. Defeat could have been greater for Scott Parker’s side.

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Continue ReadingPreston’s Milutin Osmajic riles Burnley with Cup goal taunts after racism claim

Three teenage girls arrested over death of man, 75, in north London

Police launch a murder investigation after officers were called to an incident in Holloway on Thursday night

Three teenage girls have been arrested over the death of a 75-year-old man in north London.

Police launched a murder investigation after officers were called to an incident on Seven Sisters Road at 11.35pm on Thursday.

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Continue ReadingThree teenage girls arrested over death of man, 75, in north London

The moment I knew: I was snot-crying through a Disney film when he placed his head on my shoulder

Watching a kids’ movie about self-acceptance reduced Will Hopkins to a blubbering mess. But Herschel’s reaction made him feel safe and free from judgment

In 2020, I was living in Sydney, working in real estate, attempting to finish my law degree on the side and struggling to juggle full-time work, full-time study and, admittedly, full-time partying. For a while I had been contemplating moving home to Brisbane to escape the chaos of Sydney but, at that time, chaos and I were old friends, and it was a friendship I thought would prevail my whole life.

I met Herschel on 20 December 2020 at about 10pm. I remember it well as it was also the day that a once firmly held belief of mine was shattered into oblivion.

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Continue ReadingThe moment I knew: I was snot-crying through a Disney film when he placed his head on my shoulder

Even rightwingers are mocking the ‘Epstein files’ as a lot of redacted nothing

It was yet another reminder that Trump and his associates will turn even the sex trafficking of minors into a photo op

Drum roll, please: the “most transparent administration in American history” is declassifying shocking new information about Jeffrey Epstein and his associates. After years of speculation that powerful people have been concealing information related to the late financier and convicted sex offender, the Trump administration said earlier this week that it would release unseen details about the case.

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Continue ReadingEven rightwingers are mocking the ‘Epstein files’ as a lot of redacted nothing

The number of people with chronic conditions is soaring. Are we less healthy than we used to be – or overdiagnosing illness?

Are ordinary life experiences, bodily imperfections and normal differences being unnecessarily pathologised? One doctor argues just that

School was a difficult time for Anna. It still haunts her. She recalls being a sociable child, good at making friends. But she also remembers becoming hyperfixated on one friend, then another and another in succession. She tended to be impulsive and, wanting to please others, easily led. One distressing incident in particular has never left her. On the first day after moving to a new school, she was relieved to be taken under the wing of two girls. At lunchtime, in fits of giggles, the girls egged each other on to do naughty things. Anna spat orange juice at the boys. She did it with relish, only to reproach herself later. She feels the episode coloured her whole school experience.

As a child and an adult, Anna felt sanctioned, judged and misunderstood. She considers herself a chameleon who adapts to new environments and survives by being funny, but all too often regrets things she has said. Her self-esteem is low. Anna is a nurse and, although she loves her job and is good at it, she still often feels inadequate. “People don’t think I’m as clever as I feel. I can’t get the words out quickly enough,” she says.

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Continue ReadingThe number of people with chronic conditions is soaring. Are we less healthy than we used to be – or overdiagnosing illness?